13 November 2017

A Fun Felt Children's Art Wallet for Eileen Hull Designs

Hi everyone and welcome! Some long while back I had fun creating a fun felt children's art wallet using Eileen Hull Designs 'Journal' Die. Having been asked whether it would be possible to make a cover that didn't require a stiff base like mount/matboard this seemed the perfect opportunity to put the die to the test. Subsequently journals cut from file folders, place mats and so much more have been shared in Eileen Hull's facebook group HERE.


Felt alone is too floppy to hold pages etc so I began by cutting a front and back cover from Sizzix Paper Leather. It's tough yet light and flexible and you can even stitch through it! In this case I also cut a front and back cover from the light blue felt - Eileen's Scoreboard Dies cut felt beautifully. Having glued together the central spines on the Paper Leather cuts I trimmed away one fold on the back felt piece before gluing the two felt cuts onto the Paper Leather cover. To add some fun to the cover I cut 'Splatter' using the Sizzix Thinlits Dies of the same name from contrasting felt  to glue all over it - to ensure your Thinlits dies cut felt easily try using a piece of copier paper in between the felt/die sandwich. Finally some 2mm white elastic was strung through the holes in the spine as directed on the Journal Die cover, including a loop to hold it closed. The rigidity of the Paper Leather helped to prevent the spine from buckling - make sure not to tie the ends too tightly to stop this from happening.


Moving to the inside of this soft yet sturdy art wallet I wanted to add spaces in which to tuck stickers, rulers with cut out stencils and coloured pencils. I went to the effort of measuring and cutting pockets from white card (decorated with more Splatters) to the same size as the pencil packaging, which was in truth a little fiddly. However, Eileen is coming to my rescue in the not too distant future - included in the Eileen Hull Designs 'Book Club release' this December is a new Scoreboards Large Die called 'Stamp & Photo Storage'. The die cuts you a pocket that measures 6 1/8" x 4 1/8" x 1/2" the perfect size for attaching to the inside covers of the Journal. And the added bonus I found with my pockets is that they add even more rigidity to the covers. To complete this art wallet I cut and folded plain pieces of watercolour paper ready and waiting for little fingers to decorate.


Here's the back cover in all it's multi-coloured glory. It's so tactile and invites you to dive on inside to play with the contents!


I hope you feel inspired to create something for your budding artists on the go, and don't forget to keep a look out for that Stamp & Photo Storage Die. The fiddly job of measuring and cutting pockets will be a thing of the past!

Thank you for joining me today. I'll be back on Wednesday to reveal a brand new canvas. Until then take care of yourselves and get creative! Jenny xxx

19 comments:

  1. Brilliant gift idea, so love it. Happy creative week, Angela xXx

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    1. Thank you so much Angela. I'm so glad you like it xx

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    1. Thank you so much Regine. I'm so glad you like it xx

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  3. Fantastic idea Jenny, love those colourful splats. Perfect gift idea for our young budding artists including me lol. Tracy x

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    1. Thank you so much Tracy. I'm so glad you like it - mind, you are far more than a budding artist ;) !! xx

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  4. This is absolutely fantastic, Jenny!! You and Anne both make me want to make pockets on EVERYTHING now!! Thank you so much for the inspiration!! I definitely NEED to try this!!

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    1. Thank you so much Mitsyana. I'm so glad you like it and am so pleased to have inspired you to give it a go xx

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  5. Pockets for everyone 😀! Love the felt/paper leather combo- it looks perfect and love the bright splatters. Art just waiting to happen...

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    1. Thank you so much Eileen. I'm so glad you like it and thank you so much for the new storage die that will make this whole process even easier xx

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  6. Incredible Jenny!! Such a clever idea to use the paper leather to give the felt added strength (why didn't I think of that one - lol!) and I just love the pockets you created, they look amazing, but agree, it will be a lot easier with the new die (can't wait!!). Your design is both clever and beautiful, I am sure it would anyone, whatever age, to get creative! Anne xx

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    1. Thank you so much Anne. I'm so glad you like it. I continue to be amazed and inspired by your art wallets and pockets xx

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  7. What an adorable gift idea for a budding artist!! Love the bright colors!! I'm definitely going to look into paper leather.

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    1. Thank you so much Jennalee. I'm so glad you like it. Oh boy, you'll LOVE Paper Leather! xx

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  8. My laptop is behaving now (fingers crossed) so catching up. Your journal is just fabulous, love the paper leather idea as well. A great gift for any age xxx

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    1. Thank you so much Elizabeth. I'm so glad you like it and glad your laptop is behaving! xx

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  9. this is such a fun idea Jenny!

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    1. Thank you so much Lisa. I'm so glad you like it xx

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  10. Cool fun and so funky! Just what any child would want . x

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Thank you for stopping by and leaving your comments - they are really appreciated and will be published when moderated. Jenny xxx

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